Helsinki's Mayor Announces the city will be more fun

The following article from the Helsingin Sanomat is titled "Helsinki wants to be cleaner, safer, more fun".....can anyone tell me how you can make a city fun by adding more trash cans in parks?
Could not find in the text any other indication of policies that would make Helsinki more fun....
how about letting discos close when they want not at h03:30?

....just an idea...probably would avoid that sistematically at the time discos close thousands of drunk people are messing around in the streets since in the disco Finns behave quite well even if they are completely trashed....which is pretty much always the case when they go out ;)


actually I'm now wondering how you can make it safer with trash bins again...I don't think the Mayor should worry too much about safety....I think it's the safest I have seen in my whole life!

Helsinki wants to be cleaner, safer, more fun

More trash containers, ashtrays, and guidance in store

The City of Helsinki is increasing the number of public trash containers. Signs emphasising the virtues of cleanliness will be posted in parks and along walkways, and new containers for deposit bottles are being set up in different locations.
The investment is part of a city plan aimed at making the city more enjoyable, safer, more attractive, and more conducive to employment.
The aim is to have a city in which it is fun to be, said Mayor Jussi Pajunen at a press conference announcing the new cleanliness campaign of the Public Works Department of the City of Helsinki.
This year 130 new deep waste bins will be set up in Helsinki's parks. Dubbed "Molochs" because of their large volume, the bins, which look quite ordinary from the outside, extend below the surface with a volume of up to five cubic metres.
A few hundred of the deep containers have been placed around the city so far.
New types of containers for empty deposit bottles and cans are being set up in parks, with signs inviting those who make extra money by returning deposit containers to help themselves. The aim is to fight both glass shards and other litter, as bottle collectors would no longer need to break open trash containers to get at a bottle.

Another upcoming change is that the city plans to take over maintenance of trash containers at bus stops and on sidewalks by the spring of 2009. Until now such containers have been the responsibility of the owners of the adjacent buildings.
Some property owners have shirked their responsibilities, which is has led to insufficient numbers and overfilling of the containers.
Raimo K. Saarinen, head of the Street and Park Division of the city's Public Works Department says that new smoking legislation that takes effect in June might force the city to increase the number of public ashtrays, as smoking increasingly moves from inside restaurants to the streets.
The city also plans to conduct a survey on what Helsinki residents think about the litter problem.

Increasing volumes of litter are a problem in other Finnish and European cities. The phenomenon is seen to be linked with the spread of disposable packaging, and an emphasis on a lifestyle focusing on the individual. At the same time, there has been a rise in the overall feeling of insecurity.
"For instance, the lack of cleanliness and the feeling of insecurity at Metro stations on the outskirts of the city often coexist", Mayor Jussi Pajunen says.
He adds that the issue goes beyond the proliferation of trash containers.
"This is not a project, but rather a state of will", Pajunen explained.
Or as Raimo K. Saarinen puts it: "No amount of money would be sufficient for keeping the city tidy by cleaning it up. We need education, guidance, and changed attitudes."